Serena Universe
by Angel of Courage
Summary: AU of Steven Universe with an older, genderbent version named Serena. Based on the episode Full Disclosure. What a hero is pushed to do when they want to protect the people they love.


_**Angel's Corner**_ : **This is an AU story**. A universe where Steven was (a) born a girl (Serenity (Serena) Quartz Universe and (b) was born a few years earlier, as was Connie. This universe also, in the future, will have a Sour Cream/Serena pairing. (I am not saying I do not like Connie/Steven, but for my idea, I decided to use the pairing with Sour Cream)

This story contains: AU (alternate universe), a genderbent character, older versions of Connie and the genderbent version of Steven, and (as stated above) a future pairing of Sour Cream/Serena. _**This is based on the episode Full Disclosure**_.

Disclaimer: I do not own anything except the idea I had for this AU story. If you have any questions, I will try to answer them. Thanks and enjoy!

* * *

Serena stared out the window, staring at the wreckage of the Home World ship. She could distantly hear Pearl, Amethyst, and Garnet talking behind her, trying to decide on their next course of action. She wanted to speak up and join the conversation, but her mind kept drifting to Sour Cream and Connie. After all she had experienced in the last twenty-four hours, her mind and heart were at war with each other over what she should do.

On one hand, she wanted to stay with them. Connie was her best friend and was like a sister to her. She couldn't imagine her life without her in it anymore. She had introduced her to new things and they had so much fun together. And Sour Cream…Serena would be lying if she said she didn't have feelings for him. She had known him for so long, and while she was afraid of losing their friendship if she confessed what she felt to him, she also couldn't deny what she felt. The butterflies in her stomach and the warmth she experienced around him, to name a few.

But, on the other hand, she didn't want to put them in danger. If more gems came to Earth, they would be in danger. They would be unable to defend themselves. She knew that, compared to the gems, humans could be hurt and even killed. And she didn't want that for them. Not for Connie, not for Sour Cream, not even for her dad and the rest of Beach City, let alone the rest of the planet.

In the end, she made her decision.

"Aw…come on," Amethyst whined at Garnet. The larger gem had her arms crossed over her chest as she regarded the others.

"No whining. We need to start cleaning up the debris," she told her. Pearl turned her worried gaze to Amethyst.

"Garnet's right. People are already coming back into town," she informed them. She had noticed a few vehicles driving back in, the people in them eager to return home.

"We need to keep them off the beach. If any of them got access to gem technology, they could really hurt themselves," Serena muttered distractedly, pulling the blinds down over the window. She glared at the covered window while the gems glanced at her in concern. "Maybe we should shut them out…for good."

"You know…we did once have a fence," Pearl admitted to the girl, thinking back to the days before they had met Greg. After his relationship with Rose had begun, it had been decided to just remove the rest of the fence. She turned and smiled at Garnet and Amethyst. "Let's get a new one! With barbed wire!"

"This time, let's build a moat. I could be…THE CROCODILE~!" Amethyst sang out, morphing her head into the head of a crocodile. "Jazz hands!" she added as she performed 'the move'.

"No," Garnet shot the idea down. Amethyst pouted.

"Why not?" Pearl turned a stern gaze at the other gem.

"You always say you'll be the crocodile, but you never commit," she reminded her as Amethyst morphed her head back to normal.

"No fence either," Garnet stated, getting shocked looks from the other two gems.

"Garnet," they whined.

"Serena needs to see her father and her friends," the tallest gem reminded them. Serena glared off to the side before she walked off the other side to the room.

"No, I don't. I can't just keep clinging to the vestiges of my humanity," she informed them, her hands balling into fists at her sides. "It's time I got serious," she continued, only to wince when her phone rang again.

"Serena…why is your communication device playing that song?" Pearl asked while Serena ignored the phone. The girl miserably glanced at Pearl.

"It's Connie or Sour Cream. They've both been trying to call me. But I can't see them anymore," Serena stated.

"So…you're just going to ignore them…forever?" Pearl inquired. Serena nodded.

"It's the responsible thing to do." Amethyst snorted from by the window.

"Well, that's going to be hard. They're both coming up the steps now," she said. Serena jolted, turning a shocked gaze to the purple gem.

"What?!" she yelled before shoving Pearl over to the door. "P-Pearl! You need to get rid of them!" she hissed before rushing to hide by the window just as her two friends cleared the last few steps and made it to the door.

"H-hello, Connie, Sour Cream," she greeted nervously. She felt horrible for having to lie to them, especially when she could see how distressed they both looked.

"Is Serena home?" Connie asked.

"Nooo…" Pearl trailed off, looking off to the side as she saw Serena attempting to slip out of the house via the window and sneak past the two.

"But is she okay? We're just…we're worried about her. She hasn't been answering her phone," Sour Cream informed the gems. He looked as though he was ready to shove his way into the house to find the other girl or even a clue to find where she could be.

"What's going on?" Connie demanded. She wanted to know what was happening, what was wrong, and why her best friend and 'sister' was ignoring her and the boy she had told her she had a crush on. And that was just a few of the concerns she had for her friend.

As the two focused their attention on the gems in the door, they completely missed the girl they were looking for as she snuck past them and raced down the steps to the beach. Garnet watched all of this, her eyes showing her worry for the girl she had helped raise.

"I…I…I don't know. I really don't understand your human relationships," Pearl confessed before stepping back into the house. "So…good-bye," she said before shutting the door, leaving a dejected Sour Cream and Connie standing there. She stood there for a few moments longer before Garnet pulled her away from the door.

With a sigh, Connie turned away from the door, with Sour Cream following her. They both paused as they spotted the retreating figure on the beach.

"Serena!" they yelled, both rushing down the steps and racing after her.

They continued for a few more minutes, continuing to follow the other girl and call her name, trying to make her stop and talk to them. It didn't work. In fact, it seemed to make her run faster and they soon lost sight of her.

"Serena!" Connie called out as they came to a stop, glancing around as they tried to find her. "Are…are you in trouble? Is something wrong?"

"Serena! Did...did we do something wrong? Did I do something wrong?" Sour Cream questioned as he and Connie tried to catch their breath. They were unaware that close by, hidden behind tower formed by the debris of the ship, Serena was doing the same while trying to hide from and ignore them.

Connie's eyes narrowed in determination and a bit of irritation as she pulled out her phone. Sour Cream watched from the corner of his eye as she pressed a button, redialing Serena's number. They distantly and briefly caught the sound of their friend's phone ringing in response before it stopped.

"Serena, we know you're here! Why are you hiding from us?" Sour Cream wondered.

In her hiding spot, Serena buried her head in her hands, trying desperately not to cry. She was trying to keep them safe. Even if it meant that she couldn't be with them anymore. Even if it meant it felt like her heart was breaking into tiny pieces. Taking a deep breath to calm herself, mentally telling herself that she needed to be strong, she glanced over at her phone and steeled herself for what she was about to do.

Connie and Sour Cream jumped when Sour Cream's phone alerted him to a text message. Hurriedly removing his phone from his pants pocket, he quickly opened the message and saw it was from Serena. Connie moved to stand closer to his side so she could also read the message.

"'I…don't want to be friends anymore'?" he read the message aloud, both his and Connie's eyes widening in shock. His expression quickly morphed into a scowl as he dialed his crush's number and put it on speaker.

"Serena?" Connie began but stopped, wanting to see what her friend would say.

"I can't be with you anymore. Either of you. I have a destiny," they heard her say. Connie glared down at the phone.

"You…you say that to our faces! Say that you don't want to be friends anymore! If you…if you can do that, we'll leave you alone. And I'll…I'll just go back to having no friends!" she snapped, feeling the tears forming in her eyes as she fought to get the words out without breaking down into sobs.

"Serena! We won't believe it unless you come out and say it to our faces! Please…" Sour Cream trailed off. He was trying to stay strong for the girl beside him, but he was close to a break down himself. He needed to talk to Serena, try to get her to understand that they could work things out. He didn't want it to end like this before he even had the chance to tell her how he really felt.

They both jumped when a shadow fell over them. Looking up, they saw her standing on the pile of ship parts in front of them before she jumped down, landing on the sand in front of them. Connie rubbed the tears away before turning her full attention to the girl in front of her, Sour Cream doing the same from beside her.

"Well?!" she snapped again, only to flinch in surprise when Serena finally looked up, tears falling from her eyes as she started to cry.

"I…I still want to be friends!" she cried out. Sour Cream rushed over with Connie, pulling his crush into his arms. Connie wrapped her arms around the both of them.

"Serena, your eye…what happened to you?" Connie asked, having seen the injury.

"I didn't want either of you to worry about it," Serena admitted as they finally released their hold on her, though Sour Cream stayed close by.

"We've been worried all day. What do you think we're doing here?" Sour Cream told her, taking a hold of one of her hands. Serena looked down at the ground.

"I was just...I wanted to protect you," she confessed, only for Connie to shake her head and place a hand on her shoulder.

"Stop. Just…just tell us everything," Connie instructed.

And Serena did. She told them what had happened. From what had led to the evacuation of town all the way to where they were now. She told them about the other gems, about having been captured and nearly taken back to the gem Home World, even about Garnet actually being a fusion of two gems named Ruby and Sapphire and the loss of Lapis after her fusion to Jasper and the sacrifice the blue gem had made.

By the time she had finished, the three friends had settled down on the sand by the water. Serena sat between the other two and just kept her gaze on the water in front of her. She was still scared of what their reactions would be. Finally, after a few minutes of silence, Connie turned to her.

"So…Lapis and Jasper are…somewhere underwater?" she asked and Serena nodded.

"Yeah…and Peridot escaped in an escape pod before the ship came down. She could be anywhere," she told them. Sour Cream leaned back on the sand and glanced at her.

"Wow…That's a lot..." he mused.

"Are you both okay?" she asked and they turned amused looks at her. Sour Cream chuckled and Connie giggled, causing Serena to look at the both of them in confusion.

"Serena, are **YOU** okay? You went through all of that. At least we can just listen to you," he said and Serena blushed, looking down at her lap.

"I can't ask you to do that," she told them. She didn't want to bother them with all of this. It was bad enough that they were a part of this because of her. She couldn't ask them to listen to her complain or talk about what happened and what would happen later on, especially if they ended up having to fight against more gems from Home World in the future.

"We want to listen, Serena. We want to be a part of your Universe," Connie told her before poking her in the side, eliciting a giggle from her friend as she squirmed away to try and avoid Connie and her ' _Fingers of Ticklish Doom_ ' (something Serena had jokingly called them once). Connie just grinned and leaned closer, trying to poke her again while Sour Cream watched with a smile.


End file.
